The Qinghai-Tibet Railway [Photo/Xinhua]

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, with the world’s highest altitude, has posed a minimal ecological impact on the plateau since its opening on July 7, 2006, according to Xinhua.

Located on the "world’s third pole", the surrounding environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is quite sensitive and vulnerable for the vegetation there is hard to recover shortly after destruction, which is also the waterhead of the five rivers, including Huanghe River, Changjiang River, Nu River, Yaluzangbu River and Lancang River, as well as the habitat for many national rare species such as Tibetan antelope and snow leopard.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company has paid great efforts in carrying out the "green sky road" construction project over the seven years. Covering an area of 5.7 million square meters, the 680-kilometer-long surrounding greenbelt, about 32 percent of the railway’s total distance, forms "a green corridor".

"The Qinghai-Tibet Railway has provided a lot of experience for us to draw on for the construction and operation of future railway projects," said Zhu Jianping, vice general manager of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company.

The company has set up 15 plants for sewage treatment and plenty of closed bins in every railway stations; meanwhile, it equips every train with the advanced compressed garbage collection system and sewage collection system, aiming to realize the goal of "zero pollution, zero release and green operation" both on the ground and trains.

"By measures such as ‘giving way to animals’, our nature reserve has seen a sharp increase in the number of Tibetan antelopes, from about 50,000 in 2005 to over 60,000 at present, " said Xiao Penghu, deputy director of the Management Bureau of Hoh Xil Nature Reserve.

Every effort made by the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company has achieved desired effects, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection. In 2008，the Gala section of Qinghai-Tibet Railway has won the "best national environmental-friendly project".

With a total length of 1,956 kilometers, the Qinghai-Tibet railway extends from Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in China. It has been the world's highest and longest frozen earth railway on the plateau at present. The railway has led to a boom in tourism in Tibet. In 2012, more than 10 million tourists visited the autonomous region, up 21.7 percent year on year, and tourism revenue surged 30.3 percent to 12.64 billion yuan ($2.06 billion).

The surrounding environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway [Photo/Xinhua] 

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway [Photo/Xinhua]